Window
by Vorastrix
Summary: This story is set in the D20 Modern, Urban arcana setting, which is essentially D&D if it had bled into the modern world. The main character is basically the average guy that happens to stumble upon this world. A further description is in my profile.
1. The Alleyway

The world outside is comforting. It's light, mundane, and safe. It's at night that the nightmares come out from the darkness to frighten us. But that is all they are, our imaginations playing tricks on us, misinterpreting what we see or seeing something that isn't even there, so there really is nothing to fear. Collin's parents tried to tell him this when he saw things that weren't really there, even when the lights were on. As he grew older, he grew to ignore these things and just accept his parent's explanations of what he saw. Some men are just very hairy, some ears are just odd shapes, and the rest is just his imagination. And his life went on normally. He grew up, went to college, got a job, and joined the boring repetitive life that was the 'work week'. It was on such a night that something interesting happened.

As he walked home after putting in some overtime, the streets were dark, empty and quiet. Collin liked it; yes, these streets could be dangerous, but Collin knew them well enough to get away, and he never kept much cash on him, only cards that could quickly and easily be canceled. However, that didn't keep him from gripping his stun gun.

When he heard a noise, he jumped and was going to run, until he realized what he heard. Gunshots he expected, but there was more: ringing of metal against metal, and an odd clicking noise. Now he did run, but towards the noise. Collin had always been curious, but it never got him in trouble. Then again, it only takes one time. He rounded the corner into an alley and saw the cause of the noise.

It was a man fighting with two long thin blades with grace that seemed as if he was actually dancing, and the last combatant fell with a spray of blood. When he turned and looked at Collin, time seemed to slow, for Collin couldn't believe what he was seeing. Long ears poked out of the man's long, pale hair, his skin was a stark contrast of pure black, and his eyes glowed red in the darkness. Sheathing his swords, the man was quick to flee to the back end of the alley. "Wait up Zak, my legs aren't as long as yours." The voice was shrill, and didn't fit such a large man. With the other movement in the alley, Collin saw what looked like a small boy trotting after the man whom he guessed to be Zak. It couldn't have been a child though, because Collin definitely saw him holster a pair of guns that he looked too familiar in using.

With them gone, Collin knew he had to check to see if the man, or men, as he soon discovered, that had fallen to the blade— and the guns too, apparently— were alive. It wasn't weird that they had swords; it was weird that they all had the same hair style as Zak, and their flesh was of the same pure ebony. He took out his cell phone but his finger only hovered over the 9. The dead black men were becoming blurry. He had to blink a few times before he realized that what was around them was clear, but they became hazy, and were soon gone along with any evidence they had even been there.

Collin clicked his phone shut. There was no explaining this away. He knew what he saw, and it was real, not just a trick of the light. This meant that everything was real for his whole life. His nightmares were real. This time he did run away, and he didn't stop, until he reached his apartment, and the dead-bolted door was behind him. He was panting heavily and just stripped off his clothes, and fell into bed, restless sleep awaiting him.

He awoke the next morning because of his bladder. After relieving himself and leaving the restroom, he stopped dead in the doorway. Because of his haste to get to bed, he hadn't set his alarm, and was already over an hour late for work. Not even bothering with a shower, and simply swishing mouthwash for the morning breath, he was out the door in a few minutes. He ran to the subway entrance, weaving between other people as fast as he could. Like anyone, he was a few minutes late every now and again, but never this late; this was the kind of thing that a person could lose their job over.

On the subway he tapped his foot impatiently until he heard someone say, "mind if I sit here?" It was the same shrill voice from yesterday. He looked to see a small boy or man in a dark leather trench coat with countless mismatched pockets all over it, with what looked like a bright green t-shirt underneath, and blue denim pants. His hair brown and cut short to reveal pierced ears that were far too pointed. Collin knew he recognized the voice, and couldn't even begin to calculate the odds of something like that. Or maybe, he thought, there was some kind of fate that allowed for this to happen.

When Collin nodded the small man sat, and all thoughts of work fled from his mind. It was all he could do not to stare at him as the train rocked back and forth. He didn't get off on his stop. Instead he waited for the small person to get off and followed him. The small man made his path almost randomly, stopping just to look at something, crossing the street just to look at a poster, or to pet a dog. His path seemed random, and Collin knew that they had traveled in many circles. Finally he entered what looked like a bookstore called 'The Tome Shoppe'. He heard the small person talking to the manager, and at a glance it seemed they were the only others in the store. Hiding among the shelves, he got as close as he could to hear them speak.

"-I tried to stop him, but how am I supposed to stop him, he's twice my size?"

"Well -hey don't touch that-" the shopkeeper snagged a wooden rod that the small man-boy had been holding, and put it back into a glass case. "You didn't have to join in."

"I wouldn't have, but he was really outnumbered, an' there was more then even Zak could handle." The shopkeeper started to move through the store, placing books on shelves while the smaller one trotted behind him. "Would you have rather I let him die?"

The shopkeeper paused in thought, then replied "no, I suppose not." It was at this time that Collin realized that they were getting dangerously close to Collin's position. He then began to act like he was looking at the books, and like any good store owner, when the man spotted Collin he asked "is there something in particular you were looking for?"

Collin thought for a moment. "Well, last night I saw something that I'm having trouble believing." A look of confusion played across the shop keep's face "I saw a man get murdered, a man with a black 

face, white hair, and long ears, kinda like yours." He added the tail end for he had finally gotten a good look at the man. He had longer hair that dangled to the side of his slender chin, almost in an attempt to hide the long ears he could clearly see peeking out. Another oddity about this man is that he didn't have any facial hair at all, not the faintest hint of stubble, or the semi-transparent peach-fuzz that some men have. "But the weirdest thing is that before I could call the police, the bodies just seemed to fade away."

A bit of anger seemed to pass over the owner's face at the mention of his ears, but he was still polite when he said "Well, sir we have some fantasy-"

"I'm talking about something that really happened!" Collin shouted loosing his temper. "I know I saw him" he said stabbing a finger at the small man trailing behind "run away from the 'scene'!"

The small man-boy took a step back from the finger and said "Uh-oh" like a child that had just been caught doing something bad. Also like an adult reacting a child that had done something bad, the shopkeeper glared at him. Then looking back to Collin and his face had changed. It was almost that of a teacher speaking to a student.

"I could give you an answer, but you might not believe me."

"Try me." Collin snapped. The calmed a bit and sighed, "Any explanation would be better than 'you're just seeing things, it's just your imagination.'"

The shopkeep smiled coyly "Oh, you're seeing things; things that most of the world chooses to ignore, but it certainly isn't your imagination. Come to the back of the store, have a seat, and I'll explain everything."


	2. The Tome Shoppe

Collin stood there dumbfounded, as the shopkeeper turned and headed to the back of the store. Was this really happening? Were his questions _finally_ going to be answered, or was this guy crasier then he was? In his own self contemplation, Collin hadn't even noticed that the smaller one had stayed behind until he said "c'mon, don't just stand there. Let's get those questions answered." Before he turned and followed.

Collin only stood there for a few seconds more before saying to himself, _well, here goes_ and followed them to the back of the store. There he found a small coffee drinking area that most book-stores had nowadays for some reason, to find the shopkeeper pouring some tea. The other person was already sitting on the edge of a fluffy arm-chair, his feet dangling. When Collin took his seat the shopkeeper offered him a cup. Collin wasn't really fond of tea. To him, it was just hot water with some odd hint of leaves in it. He took it anyway and when he took a sip he was surprised to find it had a hint of orange in it. It didn't actually taste like oranges, it just seemed like it was trying to.

After the shopkeeper took his own cup and sip he said, "well, let's start with formal introductions. My given name is Lueque Coreth" he said proudly "Which means 'forgotten riddle of the legendary arcane'." Collin didn't know if this name was of any significance anyone other than Lueque, and as he looked over at the little man's rolling eye's, he doubted it. Lueque continued saying, "however, to avoid confusion, I usually just go by Luke." Collin was relieved to hear this, because he was awful with names, and Luke was a great deal easier to remember then Lueque. "And this is-"

"Eldon," he interrupted, "Eldon Caldair, but I mostly just go by Donnie." Again, an easy name to remember.

It was then that Collin realized that it was his turn to introduce himself. He paused in thought. He considered just giving them a phony name, that way if they really were crazy, they wouldn't be able to find him. That really wasn't fair though. These people were about to share with him something that he had been searching for his whole life: answers. And if he wanted true answers, it would be courteous to start with his true name. "Mine's Collin Dart."

Nodding Luke spoke again saying, "well Mr. Dart, before I go on, I must remind you, that you came to us. _You _asked the questions." Leaning forward in his chair, his almond shaped eyes borrowing into Collin, "Are you sure you are prepared for the answer?"

Collin started back at him. He wanted to scream at him, tell him he had been searching all his life. That he had hated being told that he was just seeing things, that all he ever wanted was confirmation. At the same time, he was horrified at the nightmare of the previous night. He looked over at Donnie reliving the experience in his mind. Finally he turned back to Luke and said with a dry tongue "Yes."

"Allright." He said solemnly and leaned back, taking one final sip of his tea, before sitting it on the coffee table. "You Mr. Dart are an oddity." Collin was about to object, but Luke cut him off saying, "what I mean is instead of the ignorant mundane that wander around out there, you choose to see what they choose to ignore." Collin's objections were lost in confusion. "I'll pit you an example." He then reached up, and tucked his hair behind his ears to reveal them fully. Collin knew them to be pointed, but now he 

could see them fully, he saw that they were also long, extending a small bit past the back of Luke's head. "Most people seeing my ears, if they were thought manners will just look away immediately so as not to stare. Those that do stare will just write me off as a freak of nature. How about you?"

Collin was already shaking your head. "I don't really know much about biology, but I know that you're ears aren't a simple malformation. Besides, that's not the only thing 'odd' about you. Your face is to slender, and I don't think I have seen eye's like yours anywhere in the world." He almost stopped there, but there was a last detail he knew he had to add, "and you move with a grace that appears far too easy."

Luke smiled, oddly pleased. It had been a test not only as to how observant the man was, but also to see if he truly saw the world as it was or if he just wish he did. From what he said, it was clearly the former, which meant that he could safely go on. "Fantastic observations. Now to the mundane, these are just things that make me an oddity, but not different, but to those enlightened such as yourself, I am an elf. Similarly, Eldon, isn't just a midget-"

"Hey" Donnie squeaked, "I prefer 'little person'."

"-He's a halfling." Luke finished ignoring Donnie's outburst.

Luke then paused so that Collin could digest this revelation. Collin rubbed his lower lip with his index finger in thought. Then pointing to Donnie he said "halfling," to which Donnie nodded happily, then pointed to Luke saying "elf," who nodded as well, if less enthusiastically. He finally said "What, like 'Lord of the Rings' or something?" he asked skeptically.

Luke groaned, but Donnie whooped "Hells yeah. A Halfling saves the whole freakin' world."

Luke pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, "If you wish for something familiar to compare it to, yes, I suppose that works, but it's quite a bit more complicated than that." Releasing his nose and opening his eyes he continued, "Yes, there exists, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, many fantastic creatures in the world, but we don't belong here, not really." Collin was confused again. "You're world should exist as it appears to the mundanes. However, for some unknown reason, at random points in time, our kind," he said indicating himself and Donnie "will appear in this world with little to no memory of where we come from."

"So, 'Lord of the Rings' is a real story?" Collin asked.

"No!" Luke said before Donnie could say anything. "But many of the creatures in it do exist, as so many creatures of your myths and legends."

"So then, what happened last night? Why did those other elves just fade away like that?"

"Well, not much is known about how or why we're here. What is truly known is that we don't belong. Unfortunately, what appears to be the only way to return is death, which is why those dark elves faded 

away. It is theorized that they returned to the shadow from whence they came, as do all of our kind when we die."

Collin wanted to ask more questions, but they were interrupted by a jingling as the front door opened. Luke extended his hand to silence Collin. He then rose to investigate. Apparently it wasn't a customer, because the pair still in the chairs heard "Huh? What's this?" coming from the entrance to the store. Donnie immediately hopped out of his chair and headed to the front of the store with curiosity in his child like eyes. Collin, however, waited politely like an adult for a few seconds before curiosity overcame him as well.

He had merely passed a few shelves when he saw the object in question: a large wooden box that apparently had been delivered to the store. He also noticed to his surprise that he had been following Donnie for longer then he thought, because the sun was already dipping into the horizon. He only saw this for a second, because soon after there was a loud crash, and splinters of wood came flying at Collin, forcing himself to cover his face for protection. When he dared open his eyes again, he wished he had kept them closed. Tentacles had burst forth from inside the box. He discovered what the clicking noise he had heard the previous night as he saw Donnie two pistols, shooting at the holes in the box while dexterously dodging the tentacles as they tried to prevent him from doing so. Luke on the other hand wasn't doing so well, for he appeared to be dazed, and being dragged towards one of the holes.

Without even thinking he ran over to the elf and grabbed hold, hoping to save him. It was clear right away that this was a losing battle, so he tried another tactic, prying at the tentacle itself. This proved to be even more futile because the more he pulled, the more his fingers slipped. Out of pure frustration and desperation, Collin shouted out loud, and his hands burst into flames.

Collin just stared at them horrified that the obvious and inevitable pain had yet to reach his brain. The box apparently had a faster response then Collin because it screeched in pain, finally releasing Luke, and bringing the limb back into the safety of its wooden confine. It wasn't finished though because immediately another tentacle came whipping at Collin's head. Collin wedged his eyes shut, preparing for the pain, which never came. When he opened his eyes, he saw a gooey purple web now coated the box, which the tentacles now vainly fought against. He then realized that Donnie's pistols were now pointed at him. "How the hell can he do magic?"

Collin's head turned to Luke, for that was clearly who the question was directed to, and saw the elf now pointing a short, smooth stick at Collin with a dangerous look in his eyes. "That wasn't like any magic I've ever seen."

"What? Magic? I don't know any magic!" then he realized what they were talking about "Oh-my-God" he said before he looked at his hands. He had to flip them over a few times before he believed what he saw. Even though his hands had been engulfed in flame moments earlier, there wasn't a single burn, or even a scorch mark on them. "But, that's impossible." But then was it? Mythical creatures _and_ magic? Not only that, but he was the one who just lit his hands on fire. He looked up again to the elf almost begging for it not to be true. Luke's expression soon softened, almost out of pity, and he lowered his 

'stick', as Donnie followed suite and lowered his weapons. Collin wasn't about to allow them to change their minds, so he was around the box and out the door, before either one of them decided to stop him.

"d'ya want me to follow him?" Donnie asked.

Donnie may have been small, but he knew the city very well, and with his shortcuts, and ability to get through places larger folk couldn't, there was no doubt he could catch up. Not only that, he had known right away that he was being followed, and had lead Collin to the book store to get answers. However, Luke shook his head, "no, but I would like for you to find out where he lives and works, while I clean up this mess," he said indicating the still moving box-creature, "and try and figure out what he did." Then as Donnie was about to leave, Luke added, "Oh, and Eldon, try not to break _too_ many laws."

Donnie smiled "oh don't worry ya old fart, I won't get caught." He replied before disappearing into the night.

Luke sighed, but he knew that was the best he was going to get out of the mischievous halfling. He then set to his work of disposing of the beast in the box. The only thing he kept was the burned tentacle, for it was in fact burned. Collin had produced real fire, and not just the illusion of it. A very impressive feat for he hadn't used any components, verbal, somatic, or otherwise, as was required for most of the spells Luke knew. "Amazing." He stated in awe before throwing the tentacle in the dumpster along with the rest, and heading inside to begin his long night of research.


	3. Breakast

_beep_ _beep_ _beepclick_. Collin rolled out of bed after he turned off his alarm. He had been sure to set the alarm today, despite and probably especially because of what had happened the previous day. Had it really happened, or was it all just a dream? He looked at his cell phone and the date said that it was Wednesday, which means that yesterday happened because he had worked overtime on Monday, and that day wasn't _that_ long despite how long it had felt.

After taking care of hygiene, and grabbing some breakfast—mmm Poptarts—he was off to work. When he got on the subway, he subtly looked for Donnie. When he caught himself doing it, he stopped. Donnie likely only took the subway later in the day. He got to work—early this time—to find that nobody had noticed his absence. Yes his work had piled up a bit, but it mostly had just replaced what he cleared away by working overtime. Because of this he worked overtime again to get caught up. He headed home late again, and paused at the ally of such excitement two nights ago. He was about to step in, he shook his head and hurried home. Just because something happened there the other night, doesn't mean there was anything there tonight. Besides, he had seen them fade away.

The next day started and passed with the same boring monotony, aside from the fact that he went home at the normal time, spending an exciting night watching television. The next day the same, but in the evening he had a fun night of staying up late—getting to 11 before getting tired—playing video games.

The next day he didn't have to work, so he slept in. That was his plan at least, until he heard a sizzling noise. This started him thinking. Noises were normal in his apartment from the cars and pedestrians that roamed outside. Even inside his apartment were the regular creaks and groans of anything large made of wood. As such, he got up and went to investigate the noise. He had thought he had merely left the television on, what he didn't expect to see was the noise coming from a pan of eggs grilling on the stove. _What kind of person breaks into someone else's home to make breakfast?_ He wondered, but didn't have to wait long for his answer, because no sooner did he think this then a small person, carrying a plate of pancakes and wearing a 'Kiss the Cook' apron on headed around the corner of his counter.

"Bout time you got up, I was beginning to worried I would have to wake you. Hey, nice P-jays." He said before placing the plat on the table and heading back into the kitchen.

Collin stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before replying "Donnie? What are you doing here?"

"Making breakfast. Duh!" By this time he was working on the eggs, and appeared to be standing on a stool, that he must have brought with him.

"I can see that, why are you making breakfast in my apartment?"

"Well, I've been thinking that it is really hard to apologize for pointing a gun at someone's head that didn't deserve it but I figured breakfast was a start."

"And you didn't see a problem in the whole, 'breaking into my home' part."

Donnie looked shocked and slightly hurt. "I didn't break anything, and before you even think it, I haven't stolen anything either."

"It's a figure of speech. Even if you didn't steal or break anything, you are in my home uninvited."

Donnie started looking a little annoyed, "y'know, you aren't a very good host. Here I am, cooking you breakfast without being asked, and all you can do is complain and insult me." Collin could have been mistaken, but he thought he might have seen his eyes misting a bit.

"I'm sorry." Collin was shocked that he was apologizing to him, but continued past it. "I guess I'm just not used to having visitors."

"S'okay, I understand. You'd be surprised how many times I get that from people." Collin laughed thinking that was a joke, but Donnie only smiled back to him like a child does when they know something should be funny, but they aren't sure why. "Now, let's eat before it gets cold." He said for the eggs were done and he was serving them at the table."

Collin was still a bit fuzzy, mostly from the haze of just awakening, that in addition to finding Donnie here. Also, he truly hadn't ever had any visitors in his home so this was a confusing and awkward situation whether the guest was invited or not. Still a bit numb he decided to just sit and eat. To this he was pleasantly surprised to find—"wow, this is delicious."

Donnie smiled graciously "thanks" he said happily, before digging in himself.

After a few seconds where the only noise was silverware on plates Collin wished to break the silence, but there were so many questions so he figured he should start light. "So, Donnie. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

Donnie giggled a bit before replying "s'okay, I get that a lot. I can usually pass for twelve, but I'm really thirty."

Collin gagged on some eggs, before swallowing carefully and saying, "you're five years older than me? How can that be?"

"Well, aside from the ears, halfings are pretty much just miniature humans. If I were your size, I would only look a few years younger than you, it's mostly our height that makes us look like children. Halflings do age slower than Humans, but not nearly as much as elves."

This time preparing himself by having no food in his mouth Collin asked. "So, how old is Luke then?"

"Well, Luke is a new arrival, so he doesn't know his _exact_ age, but he is at least a hundred."

Collin wasn't that surprised about Luke's age. Elves were immortal after all in Lord of the Rings. What Donnie said did make him curious about something else though. "What do you mean by 'new arrival?"

"Well, Luke an' I are Shadowkind. I'm what's called a Native Shadowkind because I was born here on this plane, but Luke is what we call a new arrival because he came from the Shadow even though he's been here for really long time."

"I'm still a little confused, what is this shadow you're talking about?"

Donnie had to think for a bit, chewing on some pancake before answering, "well, the shadow is just what we call the 'other world'. And when someone comes across the shadow to this world, they have hardly any memory from the other world. They only remember their name, racial language, and for some weird reason, the local language too. The lucky ones may remember family, close friends, and the very lucky remember skills they had before, like magic or smithing."

Collin was still pretty confused, but he didn't think he would get better answers from Donnie. From his description he didn't know a lot about it, and why should he? Like he said, he is a native and didn't have first-hand experience like Luke. "Well," Collin said as he stood, "thanks, breakfast was delicious." He said both in honesty, and in thanks for the free meal.

Collin started to clean up, but Donnie quickly stood and said "Please let me take care of it." Collin was about to protest, Donnie was pretty small, and he had already made the meal. It was pretty obvious that he wasn't going to allow it to happen, and despite his size, it appeared Donnie could manage. Makes sense considering he had lived in a world too big for him for his whole life, he had obviously compensated. "Oh, hey, do you have anything planned for today?" Donnie asked almost off-handedly.

Collin hadn't really thought about it, but in all honesty "No, not really, why?"

"Well, Luke wanted to talk to you about, well, y'know." Donnie replied, a bit hesitant.

Collin was confused and then remembered surprised that he had even forgotten "Oh that." He said a bit frightened. "I swear, that is the first time that has ever happened to me. I don't even know what that was I-"

Donnie was waving his hand "No worries. We figured that out ourselves. Luke can tell you more about what happened then I could. That is if you would meet with him."

"Well…" Collin thought for a few seconds. When the flames burst from his hands it was one of the most frightening things in his life. However, not only is the idea of this new world exciting, if he could learn more about the flames it would be beneficial, to prevent him from harming himself with it in the future. "Alright, I'll go with you, but I should shower an dress first. Feel free to watching some TV ro something while you wait."

"Thanks," Donnie replied with a smile. He then went back to work in the kitchen cleaning up, but Collin did see him eyeing his video game systems with a bit of excitement. Collin rolled his eyes with a smile, realizing he had chosen the 'or something' option.


	4. The Offer

After Collin pried Donnie away from his entertainment system, they headed to the subway. Collin had remembered some things about last time, but Donnie stopped him from getting out at the same stop they had the last time Collin had followed him. It seemed that that time the Halfling had a few errands to run before getting to the Tome Shoppe that day, but this time they had a more direct route. In fact, the subway exit they came out this time was only a block from the Shoppe.

As they entered there was a familiar jingle. Donnie headed further inside, but Collin had stopped. Only a few days ago, there had been a very large box right where he was standing filled with a mysterious creature, and now there was no sign of it— not even a scuff mark on the floor.

Donnie walked up to the front counter, behind which was a girl reading from a very large book, lazily flipping through the pages and seeming rather bored with it. "Hey Amala," Donnie chirped "What's Luke got you study'n today?"

"Divination," she replied in a monotone voice, "like I really want to know how to spy on pe-" she stopped mid-sentence, because she had finally bothered to look up and see Collin within earshot. Seeing him, she leaned over the desk to whisper harshly at Donnie, "Why didn't you tell me there was a mundane in the store before I started rambling on about magic!?"

"Who?" Donnie replied confused then he turned to look and see Collin and giggled a little, "Oh, him. Don't worry, he knows about the Shadow an' such. His name is Collin, he's new."

Collin had only been paying half attention, figuring he would let the two have their privacy. When he heard his name his ears perked up, and he finally looked over to the two, and his heart skipped a beat. The young woman that Donnie was talking to was possibly the most beautiful person he had seen. Her blonde hair was like a lovely halo around her slender face with cool blue eyes. Her hair fell upon the shoulders of her v-neck blouse that revealed a modest cleavage. He tried not to stare, but his eyes had a hard time being drawn from her enchanting blues.

Luckily, Collin was drawn from his daze by Luke entering from a back room saying. "Ah, you're here. Please come, look at this." He then moved to the side of Amala and plopped down a pair of large books that rivaled in size the one Amala had gladly closed and moved aside to make room for these new ones. Collin moved to look at them and saw that the while the one on the left, despite its size and obvious age, was rather mundane, with a plain unlabeled brown leather cover. That is, it was mundane in comparison to the one on the right. On its cover was an assortment of crystals of various shapes and sizes, with carvings in the black leather that seemed to weave them all together. It was beautiful and oddly familiar to Collin.

"Wow, it's amazing! How come all the other books you give me to read look so boring?" Amala asked. She then reached for it for closer examination, but her hands were swatted away by Luke.

"It's because these aren't for you," he said sternly.

"They're for me." Collin said, still mystified by the book. Without a second thought he ran his finger along leather, not daring to touch the crystals and tarnish their beauty.

Amala's pale face turned red with anger. "What? Who do you think you are? _I'm _Luke's apprentice, not you, if you think you can just-"

"Silence!" Luke rang out, "You shame yourself and me."

"But Luke" she whined, "I've been learning magic from you for almost a year now, reading one musty old tome after another, and here is this magnificent book. Why does he get access to it before me?"

"Because what he can do, I cannot teach." Luke replied and anger seemed to drain away from Amala only to be replaced with confusion. "A few days ago, for some reason I have yet to discover, an otyugh was delivered to the store, and attacked Donnie and I, just after I had started explaining the Shadow to Collin here. In the course of the fight, I was dazed, and as Collin attempted to help me, his hands burst into flames."

Amala shrugged unimpressed, "So what, I can do that. It's an easy spell."

"Not a spell." Luke replied, "There were no components, not verbal nor somatic. Nothing was fueling those flames but his own will."

Now Amala truly was impressed, "Now that's the kind of magic I want to learn."

"It's not magic, it's psionics." Collin said. All eyes then turned to him. It had been the common trend for them to have to explain things to him, and it was odd for him to return the favor. The explanation for this sudden spark of knowledge was apparent immediately, for Collin had flipped open the crystal tome and was examining the scrawl inside. "Unlike magic, which draws its powers from hand gestures and ancient words, psionics draws its power straight from the mind."

Amala and Donnie moved to peer curiously at the page, but after only moments of staring at the seemingly indecipherable swirling text they both turned away. "That's amazing," Donnie said, for he was now looking at Collin whose eyes never left the page. "You can read that?"

"How can he? I get a headache from just looking at it." Amala said, rubbing her temples.

"That's kinda the point, actually," Collin replied, tilting his head in interest. "And I can't actually read it, I just know what it says." It was an interesting sensation, to say the least. As his eyes followed swirling text, things would simply occur to him as if he already knew them. He didn't actually already know about magic and psionics before he described it to the rest, but he now fully understood it, or at least enough to know the difference. The security measures made sense, because only those with the potential would have the effect Collin had, while the rest would just be confused, or if they had the ability to possibly decipher the text, would get headaches to dissuade them from even attempting. The reason for the book was that many psionics wouldn't know they had the hidden power, let alone know how to use it. In the worst cases those individuals would unknowingly store up that power until one emotional incident made the power explode, literally, causing tremendous damage to the person's surroundings, sometimes their body as well, and often their mind. To the lucky few, like Collin, their 

powers appeared subtly, unconsciously being used to accomplish things that they passionately desire. It wasn't until they were under great emotional stress that it would appear in more obvious manners like Collins hands bursting into flame due to great fear and panic.

Luke, who was the only one that wasn't interested by the crystal tome, opened the other book. Inside were pages filled with the jagged scrawl of what was definitely an ancient language. "This is the journal of the last person to posses that book. It belonged to a mage that met a man who could teleport from one spot to another, even fly by mere will. When the mage asked the man how he was able to do such wondrous things, the man showed him that book. The greedy magus then struck down the man and took the book, arrogant in his belief that he could learn the abilities himself." Luke flipped a page and the scrawl became a bit more loopy. "It's hard to tell what happened after that, but I suspect that he was driven mad in trying to discover the secrets of the book." Luke then closed the book and looked to Collin. "What about you?"

Collin finally took his eyes from his book and replied, "Well, if I were crazy, it would have started with seeing those dark elves fade into nothing, which I doubt was caused by this book." Luke replied by curling one corner of his mouth upward, knowing Collin didn't really think himself crazy. "And as for teleportation and flight, I really don't think I am capable of those things."

"Yeah, but you got other skills we could use," Donnie added, trying to sound encouraging. "For instance, your mad hacking skills. I mean, hacking into the FBI database when you were only nine, that is f-"

Collin turned on Donnie "Hey, those records were sealed, how did you even—" Then the first part of what Donnie said registered. "Wait, what did you mean by 'we could use'?"

Luke let a friendly smile spread across his face. "Well, it seems that Donnie has revealed the other reason for me having him ask you here. You see, I am the local head of an organization that-"

"No way!" Amala screamed, "I've been with you for almost a year, you've known this guy for less than a week and already you're offering him a job with Department-7!"

Luke shut his eyes tight, appearing to be controlling anger. When it seemed he was about to explode with rage, he just sighed. "I have told you before. I will recruit you when you are ready, but in the meantime," he grabbed the tome she had slid away, and opened it more forcefully than necessary in front of her with a slam that made her flinch. "Study."

Amala was becoming less attractive to Collin by the second. Her physical appearance was magnificently perfect, but Collin wasn't fooled by outward appearances. He saw her for what she really was: a snobby brat that was used to getting what she wanted. "Whatever your organization is, I don't know why you want me for it. Besides, I have a job."

Donnie snorted a laugh, "You sit in front of a computer all day, _not_ playing games. Believe me, this job is _much_ more fun."

"Hey, I like my job." Collin said defensively. He was a really crappy liar. "Like she said though, you just met me, what makes you think I would be good for this job?"

Luke looked to Donnie, as if he were supposed to answer. When Collin followed suit, he saw Donnie fiddling with a rubix cube he had presumably taken from his coat. Because Donnie was clearly avoiding the question, Luke answered, "Well, I must apologize for the intrusion on your privacy, but after your display of power the other day, I asked Donnie to check up on you." Collin looked like he was about to protest, but before he could, Luke continued his explanation. "It's something we do _whenever_ we tell someone what we told you, not that it happens often, and with your display of power, there was a bit of urgency, but only so we could better understand what happened." This seemed like it was headed in a pretty personal direction for Collin, and he did have some skeletons that he didn't want revealed to those around. It was clear to Luke from him glaring at Amala, who was obviously doing more listening then reading. Luke said to Amala, "I think we are distracting you from your studying. I'm going to go to my office, can you watch the Shoppe for me?"

"Whatever." She said feigning indifference, as they left with Luke motioning Collin to follow, which he did.

Collin found a seat in one of the very comfortable chairs in Luke's office, but didn't speak until he heard Donnie close the door. "So what does your organization do, and how could my computer skills help you?"

"Well, I was telling you about Shadowkind when we got rudely interrupted the other day. What I didn't get the chance to tell you is that when we arrive in this world we don't have any memory." Luke began.

"Actually Luke, I already told him about that this morning." Donnie said almost guiltily.

"Oh, well, needless to say, it is a very disorienting experience. We show up in a world completely alien to our own, with no memory. Imagine someone from the middle ages stepping into our present day world." Luke continued. "What Department-7 does is to help these new arrivals integrate into our world, help them adapt."

Collin looked confused, "And what would I do, because if you want me to get them new identities or something, I can't. I won't do anything that illegal."

"Oh, we know. We already have less mundane ways of doing that anyway." Luke replied, "and don't worry, your morals are part of the reason we want you to join us. You see, the other purpose we serve... sometimes these newcomers get out of line, and start causing trouble. For the regular mundane crimes, theft, drugs, that sort of thing, we let local law enforcement handle things. But roving magical beasts, or improper use of magic, we handle in our own form of law enforcement."

Collin could see where this might be going, but he wanted to know how much they knew about him. "What makes you think a computer geek like me can help you with that?"

"First off, you're not a computer geek, you're a computer freak." Donnie chimed in, "That's not an insult, it's a compliment. I've asked around. Whenever a local company has new security software, they always come to you to test it and you always find a way to hack it. If it wasn't for your modesty, you could be raking in the dough with a skill like that."

It was true. Hacking into the FBI database as a child had been easy. He merely wanted information, and he got it. Granted, he hadn't been covering his tracks, because he was arrested within minutes. Collin had always been good with computers. After reading that book though, the ease with which he could read a program, find its holes, and find how to make it work to his advantage made a great deal more sense. He could get sucked into that world, getting anything he wanted from the net with ease, without someone to lead him down the right path and channel that focus into more productive things.

"Second," Donnie said, "your dad is a cop; one that is well known for being well versed in Kung Fu. You're telling me he didn't teach you any moves?"

There it was. Kung Fu was another thing that had come easy to Collin, and something else he thought he had already applied his psionics to. At first he struggled, but he pushed himself with the great desire to please his father, and it soon became something that he was very good at. He wasn't about to give Donnie the satisfaction, so forcing a straight face he replied, "Nope."

Donnie's mouth spread wide, "Even if you weren't such a crappy liar, I have seen the YouTube video. That match was amazing. You whupped that guy and he was twice your age, _and_ size. A true tribute to little people everywhere."

The match that Donnie was referring to was the only tournament that Collin had ever entered. Before his growth spurt that brought him to a towering 6'2", he was a tiny twelve-year-old, and to prove himself to his peers, he entered a tournament. When he proudly brought home his trophy, he was met only with a look of disappointment. It was that day his father told him that he didn't want Collin to use Kung Fu to just show off, it was for the defense of others. It was for that reason that he was hesitant to join, but in the end, that very reason that he decided, "All right," he said, holding out his hand. "I'll give you guys a shot."

Luke firmly shook Collin's hand and smiled saying, "Welcome to Department-7"


End file.
